HYDERABAD: Directing the officials concerned to stay alert and take measures to protect the residents of low-lying areas in flood-hit districts, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said that the official machinery accustomed to deal with drought-like situations should also be equipped to tackle floods from now. He directed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to set up a permanent system for effective flood management in Telangana.

“The scenario has changed in the State and there may not be drought-like situations anymore,” Rao said and asked the officials to brace themselves to deal with the floods.

READ MORE | Telangana floods: 7 rescued from flood-affected ashram in Nizamabad; 9 stuck on bridge in Asifabad

Reviewing the ongoing floods in 16 districts during a meeting at Pragathi Bhavan on Thursday, the Chief Minister directed the officials to set up a seven-member flood management team. Officials from Irrigation, Panchayat Raj, Municipal, Roads and Buildings, Revenue, Health departments and GAD should be a part of the team, he said.

“There should be a permanent system to deal with the floods. Officials should maintain flood records and take preventive measures in accordance with previous years’ data. An efficient officer should be appointed to coordinate with the line departments during floods,” the CM said.

Relief work

With the IMD predicting heavy rainfall for the next two days, the Chief Minister wanted the officials of Army, police, Air Force and NDRF to be on high alert. Rao directed the officials to immediately send an official team by Army chopper to Eturunagaram and Mangampet areas. NDRF teams should be deployed in Armoor, Nirmal and Bhainsa to rescue the people stuck in low-lying areas, he said. The Chief Minister asked the officials to make shelter, clothes, food and other arrangements readily available to the rescued citizens.
Stating that the highest rainfall of 70 cm was recorded in Mahabaleshwar, Rao directed the officials to be wary as the Krishna projects in the State would receive huge inflows in the coming days. The Chief Minister also enquired about the water levels in Musi and the situation in Hyderabad. He directed the HMDA and GHMC officials to take strict action against owners of illegal structures in low-lying areas. The Chief Minister directed the officials and people’s representatives to be on high alert at least until August 10, in the wake of rainfall prediction for the next 20 days.

NIGHTMARE OF DELUGES RETURNS IN TS

As a result of heavy rains, gates of all irrigation projects on the Godavari river in TS, have been lifted. This means that the river is flowing without any hindrance

DAMS CLOSE TO FRL
With Mahabaleshwar recording an all-time highest 24-hour rainfall of 480 mm, and other parts of Krishna catchment areas receiving continuous down pour, the Srisailam project is all set to receive heavy inflows over the next few days. Almatti and Narayanpur have almost been filled to the brim. The outflow from Almatti and Narayanpur were 1.3 lakh cusecs and 1.61,680 cusecs respectively, as of 9 pm. In one week, Srisailam received over 40 tmcft. The inflows and outflows of Jurala were recorded at 54,960 cusecs and 57,849 cusecs respectively. All the projects in Godavari basin, except Nizamsagar and Singur, have reached full level. 35 gates of the SRSP and 12 gates of LMD were also lifted. While outflow from SRSP stood at two lakh cusecs, the inflow was four lakh cusecs. The TS Genco generated 20.97 million units of hydel power, on Wednesday

TEMPERATURES DROP BY 6-8 DEGREE CELSIUS
Maximum temperatures across Telangana dropped by as much as 6-8 degree Celsius on Thursday as the State received widespread rains. In Hyderabad, it was 23.6 degree Celsius, which is 7.3 degree Celsius below normal. In Mahbubnagar,the maximum temperature was recorded 8.3 degree Celsius below normal at 23.2 degree Celsius